Luna: Wolf Moon

Last updated

Luna: Wolf Moon
Luna Wolf Moon-2016.png
First edition cover
Author Ian McDonald
Audio read byThom Rivera
Cover artistVictor Mosquera
CountryUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Science fiction
Publisher Gollancz (UK)/Paperback
Tor (US)/Hardcover
Publication date
23 March 2017 (UK)
28 March 2017 (US)
Media type
Pages416
ISBN 978-1-47320-226-9 (UK)
978-0-76537-553-7 (US)
Preceded by Luna: New Moon  
Followed by Luna: Moon Rising  

Luna: Wolf Moon is a 2017 science fiction novel by British author Ian McDonald. It is the second book in a three-part series that also includes Luna: New Moon and Luna: Moon Rising .

Contents

The novel explores the aftermath of the Corta family's destruction at the hands of their enemies on the Moon as the survivors seek salvation and revenge. The novel was released in the UK on 23 March 2017, and in the US on 28 March 2017.

Setting

In the future, a near feudal colony has risen up around the industrialisation of the Moon, and though technology keeps the deadly natural environment at bay, the four basic essentials of life—air, water, carbon and data—come at a price. Tiny "chibs" placed in the eye to meter usage of these Four Elementals serve as a constant reminder of this. Everyone also has a "familiar": a personalized, holographic avatar that hovers over one shoulder and serves as an interface with the Moon's network, other familiars, and even one's physical surroundings. There is only contract law and no criminal law, and everything from marriage to divorce to murder is infinitely negotiable; the culture of the Moon's elite features polysexual and polyamorous relationships accented with cocktails, designer drugs, and 3D printed vintage couture. Under contracts granted by the Lunar Development Corporation (LDC), the Moon has been controlled by five families: the Australian Mackenzies dominate mineral extraction, the Asamoahs of Ghana control a vast underground agricultural industry, the Russian Vorontsovs run the transportation systems, the Suns of China are masters of technology, and the upstart Brazilian Cortas mine helium-3 to power Earth's fusion reactors. In Luna: New Moon, the Suns manipulate the Mackenzies and the Cortas to reignite their long-simmering rivalry; the Corta empire is destroyed, and its members killed or scattered.

Plot

Recovering from his near-fatal Moon-run escape through vacuum, Lucas Corta has only one source of potential allies to reclaim his empire: Earth. But as those who have lived on the Moon for an extended period are physically incapable of surviving on Earth, he enlists Dr. Galina Volikova to help him overcome this obstacle on the Vorontsov orbiting cycler Saints Peter and Paul. Months later he makes the journey, knowing a stay longer than four months will kill him. While making connections on Earth, Lucas meets his cousin Alexia Corta, and enlists her as an ally in his plan to reclaim the Corta empire.

Eighteen months after the destruction of the Cortas, the triumphant Mackenzie family gathers for the 105th birthday celebration of patriarch Robert on their smelting train Crucible, which perpetually follows the Sun. The facility's mirror array suddenly turns on itself, and though key members of the family and their guests escape, almost two hundred of the partygoers are incinerated as the compound is destroyed within minutes. Robert himself is left to die by his wife Jade Sun, whom he manages to kill before he perishes. Surviving the catastrophe, the Sun matriarch Cixi takes Jade and Robert's son Darius Mackenzie under her protection. Robert's son Bryce Mackenzie learns that Crucible's destruction was caused by a Trojan horse planted decades before, and connects it to the Cortas. Robson Corta, the orphaned son of Rachel Mackenzie and Rafa Corta who has been living as a veritable Mackenzie hostage, flees Bryce's revenge and joins his uncle, Wagner Corta, in hiding.

In the wake of Robert's death, Bryce seizes control of the Mackenzie helium-3 operations at João de Deus, formerly Corta property, and establishes Mackenzie Helium. His elder brother Duncan solidifies his hold on Mackenzie Metals and reopens the only remaining smelter on the Moon, the original Mackenzie facility at Hadley. Bryce's blades decimate one of Duncan's work crews, nearly killing Duncan's son Denny. Citing Corta honor, Wagner rescues Denny even though he murdered Wagner's brother Carlinhos. As payback, Denny agrees to protect Robson while Wagner is away. Bryce's knives come for Robson, and though Denny and his people intervene, Robson flees.

Paralyzed from the waist down, Ariel Corta is in hiding but performs legal work remotely. Her bodyguard Marina Calzaghe's "Moonday"—when she must decide whether to return to Earth before the Moon's changes to her body are irreversible, or stay on the Moon permanently—is approaching. With the LDC board turning against him, Jonathan Kayode hires Ariel as his legal advisor, knowing that her current lack of family and business alliances makes her the only person he can trust. Without warning Ariel, Jonathan seizes control of the LDC and arrests its board members. Ariel meets with Lady Sun, Lousika Asamoah, and Duncan Mackenzie to confirm whether they will position their families with or against Jonathan. She seeks out banker Vidhya Rao, whom she believes can give her insight into the Vorontsovs, who have gone quiet. Ariel is shocked to learn that the Vorontsovs have begun a brutal coup of their own.

Wagner and his team of surface workers encounter an Asamoah farming facility seemingly crippled by malfunctioning Vorontsov moon-dozers, who are now heading in the direction of the Asamoah city of Twé. The inhabitants of the facility have been assassinated by robots who now pursue Wagner's rover; he loses two teammates, but the survivors rendezvous with a rescue team. With his father Lucas missing and presumed dead, Lucasinho Corta is living under the protection of the Asamoahs in Twé. An attack disables the city's fusion reactor and the dozers begin covering the domes of Twé with surface regolith to render its solar panels useless. Lucasinho flees the city with his nine-year-old cousin Luna, daughter of Rafa and Lousika, but their transport pod is stranded at a remote relay station due to a lack of power. Lucasinho finds a rover, and their journey toward João de Deus is fraught with danger. Running out of energy and air, Luna and an unconscious Lucasinho find refuge in the destroyed subterranean Corta mansion, Boa Vista.

Aided by the Vorontsovs, the Lunar Mandate Authority of Earth has seized control of the Moon. In Meridian, Jonathan is assassinated, and Marina returns to Earth. Ariel is summoned by the mastermind behind the brutal takeover: her brother Lucas. Duncan seeks Robson as leverage against Lucas, but Denny lets the boy flee with Wagner, and is exiled by Duncan. Lucas reclaims Boa Vista.

Characters

Publication

Luna: Wolf Moon is the second volume of a planned trilogy, [1] following 2015's Luna: New Moon. [2] McDonald said of the novel on Twitter in January 2016, "volume goes to 11 on this one". [3] An excerpt was released at Tor.com on 6 March 2017. [4]

Wolf Moon was released in paperback by Gollancz in the UK on 23 March 2017, and in hardcover by Tor in the US on 28 March 2017. The cover art is by Victor Mosquera. [5]

Reception

Publishers Weekly called the novel "compelling", adding that "Each of McDonald's viewpoint characters is made human in fascinating and occasionally disturbing detail, and the solar system of the 22nd century is wonderfully delineated." [1] Niall Alexander of Tor.com compares the remaining Cortas to the Starks of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire , and calls Wolf Moon "impossibly taut and profligate with plot". [6] He wrote of the novel's pace and building tension, "It's relentless ... Ever so exhilarating, but also exhausting, at points. But it's not for nothing—for every plot point and every character arc there's either payoff or the promise of—and happily, there are ... moments of much-needed relief." [6]

Awards and nominations

Luna: Wolf Moon was nominated for the 2018 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moon</span> Natural satellite orbiting Earth

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It orbits at an average distance of 384400 km, about 30 times the planet's diameter. The Moon always presents the same side to Earth, because gravitational pull has locked its rotation to the planet. This results in the lunar day of 29.5 days matching the lunar month. The Moon's gravitational pull – and to a lesser extent the Sun's – are the main drivers of the tides.

<i>Childhoods End</i> 1953 novel by Arthur C. Clarke

Childhood's End is a 1953 science fiction novel by the British author Arthur C. Clarke. The story follows the peaceful alien invasion of Earth by the mysterious Overlords, whose arrival begins decades of apparent utopia under indirect alien rule, at the cost of human identity and culture.

<i>Luna 2</i> 1959 Soviet unmanned space mission to impact the surface of the Moon

Luna 2, originally named the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket and nicknamed Lunik 2 in contemporaneous media, was the sixth of the Soviet Union's Luna programme spacecraft launched to the Moon, E-1 No.7. It was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon, and the first human-made object to make contact with another celestial body.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Phillips (musician)</span> American musician (1935–2001)

John Edmund Andrew Phillips was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was the leader of the vocal group the Mamas & the Papas and remains frequently referred to as Papa John Phillips. In addition to writing the majority of the group's compositions, he also wrote "San Francisco " in 1967 for former Journeymen bandmate Scott McKenzie, as well as the oft-covered "Me and My Uncle", which was a favorite in the repertoire of the Grateful Dead. Phillips was one of the chief organizers of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moons of Uranus</span> Natural satellites of the planet Uranus

Uranus, the seventh planet of the Solar System, has at least 27 moons, most of which are named after characters that appear in, or are mentioned in, the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. Uranus's moons are divided into three groups: thirteen inner moons, five major moons, and nine irregular moons. The inner and major moons all have prograde orbits, while orbits of the irregulars are mostly retrograde.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plato (crater)</span> Crater on the Moon

Plato is a lava-filled lunar impact crater on the Moon. Its diameter is 101 km. It was named after ancient Greek philosopher Plato. It is located on the northeastern shore of the Mare Imbrium, at the western extremity of the Montes Alpes mountain range. In the mare to the south are several rises collectively named the Montes Teneriffe. To the north lies the wide stretch of the Mare Frigoris. East of the crater, among the Montes Alpes, are several rilles collectively named the Rimae Plato.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian McDonald (British author)</span> British science fiction novelist

Ian McDonald is a British science fiction novelist, living in Belfast. His themes include nanotechnology, postcyberpunk settings, and the impact of rapid social and technological change on non-Western societies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claimed moons of Earth</span> Claims that Earth may have other natural satellites

Claims of the existence of other moons of Earth—that is, of one or more natural satellites with relatively stable orbits of Earth, other than the Moon—have existed for some time. Several candidates have been proposed, but none have been confirmed. Since the 19th century, scientists have made genuine searches for more moons, but the possibility has also been the subject of a number of dubious non-scientific speculations as well as a number of likely hoaxes.

North America's Forgotten Past is a series of historical fiction novels published by Tor and written by husband and wife co-authors W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear. The series, which began with 1990's People of the Wolf, explores various civilizations and cultures in prehistoric North America. It is somewhat comparable to Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series, which is set in prehistoric Europe, but each of its books focuses on a different time period, location, and set of characters. The first four novels form a coherent, more or less linear narrative, from the initial migration of Siberian peoples into what is now Canada and Alaska through the florescence of the Mississippian semi-urban mound-building culture, considered the "high-water mark" of North American pre-Columbian civilization, around 1000 AD. The remaining novels cover a wide variety of times and settings, most standalone stories in no particular order, ranging from tropical Florida in the 6th millennium BC to the Chaco Empire of the Southwest in the 13th century AD. The novels take into account new developments in North American archaeology such as the discovery of Kennewick Man and the development of the coastal-route model as a possible alternative or supplement to overland migration across Beringia.

<i>Winston Science Fiction</i> American juvenile science fiction book line

Winston Science Fiction was a series of 37 American juvenile science fiction books published by the John C. Winston Company of Philadelphia from 1952 to 1960 and by its successor Holt, Rinehart & Winston in 1960 and 1961. It included 35 novels by various writers, including many who became famous in the SF field, such as Poul Anderson, Arthur C. Clarke, Ben Bova, and Lester del Rey. There was also one anthology, The Year After Tomorrow, edited by del Rey and others. There was one non-fiction book Rockets Through Space: The Story of Man's Preparations to Explore the Universe by del Rey which details the factual science and technology of rocket flight. Many of the dust jackets became science fiction classics; the artists included Hugo Award winners Ed Emshwiller and Virgil Finlay along with Hugo nominees such as Mel Hunter and Alex Schomburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discovery and exploration of the Solar System</span>

Discovery and exploration of the Solar System is observation, visitation, and increase in knowledge and understanding of Earth's "cosmic neighborhood". This includes the Sun, Earth and the Moon, the major planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, their satellites, as well as smaller bodies including comets, asteroids, and dust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrian Tchaikovsky</span> British fantasy and science fiction author

Adrian Czajkowski is a British fantasy and science fiction author. He is best known for his series Shadows of the Apt, and for his Hugo Award-winning Children of Time series.

<i>Gardens of the Sun</i> 2009 novel by Paul J. McAuley

Gardens of the Sun is a 2009 science fiction novel by Paul J. McAuley. It was initially published by Gollancz on November 19, 2009, as a sequel to the 2008 novel The Quiet War.

<i>Luna: New Moon</i> Novel by Ian McDonald

Luna: New Moon is a 2015 science fiction novel by British author Ian McDonald. It is the first of a three-part series that also includes Luna: Wolf Moon and Luna: Moon Rising. The novel explores the dangerous intrigue that surrounds the powerful Corta dynasty, one of the five families who control industry on the Moon. Optioned for development as a television series before it was released, the novel has been called "Game of Thrones in space".

The 2017 Players Championship was the 44th Players Championship, held May 11–14 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and the 36th edition held at the Stadium Course.

List of works by or about the British author Ian McDonald.

<i>Luna: Moon Rising</i> 2019 science fiction novel

Luna: Moon Rising is a 2019 science fiction novel by British author Ian McDonald. The sequel to Luna: Wolf Moon (2017), it continues that book's story of the fallen Corta family, whose remaining members struggle for survival and revenge in the aftermath of their destruction at the hands of their enemies on the Moon. Moon Rising was released on 19 March 2019.

Bibliography of British science fiction and fantasy writer Tanith Lee:

References

  1. 1 2 "Fiction Book Review – Luna: Wolf Moon by Ian McDonald". Publishers Weekly . 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  2. Alexander, Niall (21 September 2015). "The Long Run: Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald". Tor.com . Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  3. @iannmcdonald (19 January 2016). "volume goes to 11 on this one" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 April 2017 via Twitter.
  4. McDonald, Ian (6 March 2017). "Excerpts: Luna: Wolf Moon". Tor.com. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  5. "Cover Reveal for Ian McDonald's Luna: Wolf Moon". Tor.com. 19 January 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  6. 1 2 Alexander, Niall (23 March 2017). "Eternamente: Luna: Wolf Moon by Ian McDonald". Tor.com. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  7. "2018 Locus Awards Winners". Locus Science Fiction Foundation. 23 June 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2020 via Locusmag.com.